This invention relates to a ready-to-eat breakfast cereal product and to a method for making such product.
The art of preparing breakfast cereals has evolved into a number of well established, specialized practices over the past seventy years. Generally, so-called "cold" ready-to-eat breakfast cereal products are prepared by modifying cereal grains into an edible form that is substantially crisp and can be eaten as such or with milk without becoming soggy within a short period of time.
Virtually all methods for making ready-to-eat cereals have remained substantially unchanged since the development of the original processes. The basic processes include puffing, flaking, shredding and extrusion of cereal grains or cereal dough, each of which results in products having well established shapes, sizes and compositions. Although numerous improvements have been made to these basic processes, it would be desirable to provide a new process for manufacturing ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, especially one from which a variety of unique and distinctive products and product shapes can be obtained. Ideally, such a new process should be capable of being undertaken without substantial capital expenditures and should offer significant operational efficiencies.